Police arrest 10 in drinking death of LSU fraternity pledge

BATON ROUGE, La. — Ten people were arrested Wednesday on misdemeanour hazing charges in the death of a Louisiana State University fraternity pledge whose blood-alcohol content was more than six times the legal limit for driving, officials said.

One of the 10 suspects — Matthew Alexander Naquin, 19, of Boerne, Texas — also faces a felony negligent homicide charge in the death of 18-year-old Maxwell Gruver, a freshman from Roswell, Georgia, who was trying to join Phi Delta Theta.

Witnesses said Naquin singled out Gruver during a hazing ritual involving 18 to 20 pledges the night before he died, forcing him to drink more than other pledges, according to a police report on the Sept. 14th death that was released Wednesday.

Witnesses told police that other pledges were made to drink that night, but Naquin “targeted” Gruver because he was frequently late for events. Naquin apparently didn’t like Gruver, and “forced” him to drink because he was having trouble reciting the Greek alphabet during “Bible Study,” a ritual testing their fraternity knowledge, they said.

One pledge said Gruver was “made to” take at least 10-12 “pulls” of 190-proof Diesel, while other pledges had to drink less of the hard liquor, according to the report.

One fraternity member said he told Naquin and another member to “cut it out” because it was “getting out of hand.” Another said he warned Naquin and the other member to “slow it down” several times, to no avail.

John McLindon, a lawyer for Naquin, declined to comment on these charges “out of respect for (Gruver’s) family.”

“Let’s just wait until the evidence comes in,” he said.

Gruver died at a Baton Rouge hospital after fraternity members found him lying on a couch at the fraternity house around 9 a.m.